NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Wednesday, November 13 (game #521)
Nice console games 
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #521) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- MUSTARD
- WING
- WEDNESDAY
- WORCESTERSHIRE
- COLONEL
- TARTAR
- LEMON
- MINION
- CALCULUS
- CANARY
- ADDITION
- PLAQUE
- EXTENSION
- PHARAOH
- CAVITY
- ANNEX
NYT Connections today (game #521) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Coward!
- Green: Extra bit of a house/office etc
- Blue: Infection could be another
- Purple: Missing syllables?
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #521) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: THINGS THAT ARE YELLOW
- GREEN: BUILDING ADD-ONS
- BLUE: CONCERNS FOR A DENTIST
- PURPLE: WORDS THAT SEEM LONGER WRITTEN THAN SPOKEN
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #521) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #521, are…
- YELLOW: THINGS THAT ARE YELLOW CANARY, LEMON, MINION, MUSTARD
- GREEN: BUILDING ADD-ONS ADDITION, ANNEX, EXTENSION, WING
- BLUE: CONCERNS FOR A DENTIST CALCULUS, CAVITY, PLAQUE, TARTAR
- PURPLE: WORDS THAT SEEM LONGER WRITTEN THAN SPOKEN COLONEL, PHARAOH, WEDNESDAY, WORCESTERSHIRE
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
Well done if you solved today’s purple group through anything other than luck, because it’s a bit of an odd one. I definitely needed some good fortune with it, because the connection – WORDS THAT SEEM LONGER WRITTEN THAN SPOKEN – is really quite an odd one. For a start, isn’t some of this dependent on understanding how language works? Sure, if you didn’t know that PHARAOH had a silent second A, you might think it was pronounced PHAR-A-OH. But that’s also true of KNOW (K-NO) or TRUE (T-RUE). It’s just English! I’m not sure that PHARAOH actually seems longer written than spoken at all. You could maybe put WORCESTERSHIRE in that bracket, but only if you’ve never been to the UK. It all just seems a bit arbitrary.
The way I stumbled upon it was related, admittedly. I instead focused on missing syllables, although I guessed more with hope than expectation, and by that stage in the game had very little idea what else it could be. I wasn’t helped by my other problem group, blue, including a word I’d never heard used in the context of CONCERNS FOR A DENTIST, namely CALCULUS. Apparently that’s another term for TARTAR, so I don’t see why both words are in there. All in all, a little unsatisfying.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 12 November, game #520)
- YELLOW: COMPLAIN BELLYACHE, CARP, CRAB, GRUMBLE
- GREEN: VEGETABLE UNITS CLOVE, FLORET, SPEAR, STALK
- BLUE: LAPTOP SPECS RAM, RESOLUTION, SPEED, STORAGE
- PURPLE: FEATURES OF JUSTICE PERSONIFIED BLINDFOLD, ROBE, SCALES, SWORD
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
